A new initiative will soon begin supporting 10 early-stage companies with ambitions of growing into Huntsville’s next large defense contractors.

Cummings Research Park recently announced the coming launch of a DefenseTech Accelerator, which will begin recruiting small firms with a defense-industrial focus to take part in a 12-week program designed to scale their products in defense and commercial markets. Recruitment of the first of two five-company cohorts will start in September, with a launch expected in November, according to Erin Koshut, executive director of Cummings Research Park.

Koshut said in addition to the Huntsville area and elsewhere in Alabama, “We’re also going to be recruiting from outside the state, and as part of participating in the accelerator, they have to locate in Huntsville … Particularly if you’re trying to sell to [the Defense Department], Huntsville is where you want to be.”